Years ago I created an InstallShield (InstallScript) installer for some software that I've maintained over the years.  While the installer has been run countless times (successfully, I might add), I recently witnessed the following error message:

An error (-5006 : 0x80070002) has occurred while running the setup.

Please make sure that you have finished any previous setup and closed other applications.

This usually happens after installing a related, but completely stand-alone and distinct product.  After a reboot (having supposed that the previous setup didn't completely finish) we get the same error message.  It turns out, that the error would occur whether or not the previous application had been installed.

Well, long story story short, I figured out that the reason this error message was cropping up was because the software was being installed on a Terminal Server.  In order to install some (not all) software on a Terminal Server, you must first put the server in Install mode, then run the installer (via the Control Panel), and then put the server back into its default Execute mode:

1. From the Command Prompt, type the following command:  change user /install.
2. Install the software via Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.
3. When complete, type change user /execute from the command prompt.

While I'm not a systems guy, this leads me to wonder why I had to do this for my installer (which I wrote with InstallScript) but I don't for other installers.  Perhaps there's a switch I can set or a script I can invoke that will do this automatically?  I must investigate.